Dig Into History – April 2019

5

act. Those in charge of the military helped redefine

fashions in England. As a result, the people there

began to look more like mercenaries who had been

hired from Germany. At the same time, there was

an increase in immigration from the rest of Europe,

especially from the Germanic areas along Rome’s

old frontier. Some of these immigrants sought new

opportunities in the old Roman provinces. Others

arrived, having fled the instability caused by

the disappearance of Roman armies along the

old borders.

And So It Starts

As a result of all these changes, the Britain of

the 400sC.E. looked very different from the

Britain of the 300sC.E. The changes happened

quickly. The Roman elite culture of cities and

villas was replaced by a society of small-scale

farmers ruled by military rulers who looked

and spoke like Rome’s old Germanic allies.

From an elite perspective, this might look like

a complete economic and cultural collapse.

But, from the perspective of most of the people

living in England, this was a time of challenge,

opportunity, and innovation. The Anglo-Saxon

period had begun.

Matthew C. Delvaux served as the consulting editor

for this issue.

left. This meant that most trade with Rome

probably stopped as well. As a result, major

changes occurred.

What Changes?

With no Roman taxes to pay, people no longer

needed to work as hard to produce a surplus that

could be taxed. Still, the collapse of Roman trade

meant that the people had to become more self-

sufficient. We see that the cities declined as people

moved to areas that were easy to farm, even if

they were not very fertile. These people must have

hoped that the new lands would provide just

enough food to feed themselves. They could then

spend the rest of their time producing everything

else that their families needed — clothes, pottery

for cooking, and tools for plowing their fields or

harvesting their crops.

Another major change was the development of a

local military culture, one that did not depend on

soldiers coming from Rome. During the 300s C.E., as

Roman troops left Britain, some were replaced by

“barbarian” allies. The Romans used this reference

for troops from Germany. In the 400s C.E., as people

living in Britain saw themselves as responsible for

the military, they began to adopt some of this

“barbarian” culture, since that was how they

thought warriors were supposed to look, sound, and

Anglo-Saxon Time Line (All dates areƋƍ)

410

Romans

withdraw

from

Britain*

1066

Norman

Conquest

— ends

Anglo-

Saxon

Period

660–

Middle

Anglo-

Saxon

410–660 Period

Early

Anglo-

Saxon

Period

899–

Late

Anglo-

Saxon

Period

*Note: Roman control of Britain began in 43 ƊƋƍ